The Turning Point

Before I get to my latest offering, a quick plug. Those of you that visit this blog recently have seen a lot of pictures of the fantastic ruins of Gary, Indiana. If you’ve ever wondered about the stories of some of these edifices, fellow blogger Sometimes-Interesting has an ongoing series of posts documenting some of the most notable buildings, using many of our photographs. The stories deserve a wider audience, and anyone interested in the hows and whys of the decline of our favorite rust belt city should check him out here.

Today’s picture illustrates a point that I’ve reached on just about all of my forays abroad. There usually comes a time a day or two into a trip when I seem to hit a wall. The immediate reasons vary, but inevitably it is a crisis of doubt: “why did I come here?” “I planned this all wrong” “I hope the U.S. consulate can claim my body.” Whatever the case, I usually just work through it. Sometimes a good dinner at some restaurant with a few drinks helps. This time, however, at a moment when I had recently left Reykjavik and struck out into a strange country, unsure of how this excursion would go, I made a turn and found myself facing this:

Shafts of Light

I’m not religious, nor even spiritual in the least. But this sight made me take a deep breath and believe I’d come to the right place. I hope the pictures that follow bear me out.